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10 Dec 2016 3:04:39pm

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Rose, a few points here.

First: if it is indeed true that "these people" want to live in the Middle Ages, who cares? All I am saying is that like everybody else in a democratic country, they should be allowed freely to express their views. I very much doubt that we are suddenly going to see Australian Muslims flocking to the embrace of Hizb ut-Tahrir, simply because Mr Uthman Badar has been permitted to speak on the radio. You seem to think that all Muslims (aka "these people") are walking powderkegs of latent extremism and will embrace the call to violent jihad at the slightest provocation. This, of course, is nonsense, and it makes me wonder how many Muslims you actually know. Mr Badar and his organisation are a marginal voice in the Australian Muslim community, and you do that community a disservice by implying that its members are (at best) gullible or (at worst) potential troublemakers.

Second: of course our society is wonderful, and the material benefits it offers are nothing short of miraculous. But - as you say - our society is not perfect. Pointing out those imperfections does not amount to "let's bash our materialism". Neither is it a "fashionable" exercise. Modern capitalism generates a mixture of technological marvels that are very new, and social injustices that are very, very old - and people have been speaking out against the latter since the Old Testament prophets.

Finally: oh dear, that tiresome term "relativism", a shopworn buzzword if ever there was one. If to "relativise" means to place things in some sort of social / cultural / historical context, then I plead guilty as charged. Show me anything or anyone who exists outside of such a context, and I will begin my sentence immediately.

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